HẬU GIANG — Nearly VNĐ2 trillion (US$87.8 million) was pledged to five projects in Hậu Giang Province at an conference held in the province’s Vị Thanh City on Thursday.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc said at the conference entitled “Hậu Giang – Potentialities of investment and development”, to call for investment in the Cửu Long (Mekong) River Delta province, that this sum was modest but investment quality was much more important.

Phúc said he expected firms to have long-term business strategies, strong determination and special attention on environmental protection to contribute to the province’s sustainable development, urging them to co-operate with local authorities to remove difficulties.

Hậu Giang must hasten administrative reforms and improve the business climate to encourage investment, Phúc said, stressing that local authorities must listen to businesses on difficulties they face and strive to create a development-oriented environment.

“Priority must be given to develop a start-up ecosystem in Hậu Giang,” Phúc said. The province was still weak in developing businesses with the ratio of one firm per 400 residents, much lower than the country’s average ratio of one per 130.

Phúc urged the province, with 80 per cent of its area taken up with farming land and 75 per cent of population working in the farming sector, to speed up restructuring of the agricultural sector towards hi-tech and large-scale production and adaptation to climate change.

Despite suffering heavily from the impacts of climate changes, Hậu Giang has a number of advantages, such as abundant raw materials, fruits, high-quality rice and rich labour resources.

The province should attach attention to education and training as well as promoting tourism, the Prime Minister said.

“Hậu Giang needs to have a long-term development vision with its planning in line with the Mekong River Delta’s master plan to create regional linkage,” Phúc stressed.

Phúc said that the Government was determined to stabilise the macro-economic situation and create an enabling Government for citizens and businesses.

At the conference, Phúc also witnessed the signing of memorandums of understanding between Hậu Giang and businesses and co-operation agreements with business associations from Laos, Australia and Sóc Trăng Province.

Call for investment

Hậu Giang is calling for investment in seven key projects with an estimated total capital of $261 million at the conference.

Đông Văn Thanh, deputy hairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said that the province would focus on four prioritised sectors for investment, namely industrial cluster infrastructure, wholesale market, agricultural product processing plant and hi-tech agriculture area, and tourism infrastructure.

The province was providing incentives to investors, including tax exemptions and reductions and land use fee exemptions.

Hậu Giang has two industrial zones and seven industrial clusters which have an occupancy rate of more than 70 per cent and create more than 20,000 jobs.

So far, the province has attracted nearly 500 domestic projects, worth VNĐ123 trillion and 28 FDI projects, worth $828 million in registered capital.

The province now has more than 3,300 businesses with a total registered capital of more than VNĐ45 trillion and over 46,000 business households. — VNS